The entrance of Indra Sabha

Plate 6 of 'Hindoo Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora near Aurangabad,' engraved by Thomas Daniell after the drawings of his deceased friend James Wales, which Daniell regarded as the sixth set of his 'Oriental Scenery.' Indra Sabha is the largest of the Jain caves at Ellora and dates from the 9th Century Rashtrakuta period. A simple gateway leads into an open court in the middle of which stands a monolithic temple with a pyramidal superstructure and an octagonal roof. There are a free-standing elephant and a column with a capital composed of a group of Tirthankaras (Jain foudners). At the back of the court there is a double-storeyed excavated temple. The sculptural panels represent Ambika, a Jain favourite goddess and Mahavira, Gomateshvara and Parshvanatha, three of the Jain saints.